Protesting Kosovo Serbs want ethnic Albanian police out of country's north

A roadblock is seen in Rudare, near the northern part of the ethnically-divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, December 22, 2022. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci

RUDARE, Kosovo (Reuters) - Thousands of Kosovo Serbs protested on Thursday to back demands for the country's Albanian-majority government to pull its police out of the country's north where its Serb minority is concentrated.

Since Dec. 10 local Serbs have erected nine roadblocks in the northern region and exchanged fire with police after the arrest of a former Serb policeman for allegedly assaulting serving police officers during a previous protest.